Tortoise teeth?

[Lannen]

Hi,

I'm new to posting in the forum, although not entirely new as I've gleaned a lot from here over the past couple of years by just reading.

We are now seeing something different with Master. He/she is about 5 years old. We inherited him/her from one of our kids who rescued him as a juvenile.

Master has a wonderful yard. He has, we call it the condo, a nice living box in the yard. It's elevated, quite secure, heated as needed, layered with sand on the floor, and has a canvas flap for the front door. (We live in central Florida)

His moisture content is correct, as is his temp. He also has a 'stick hut' that looks like a big igloo built out of branches trimmed off our trees for his day hide, which he frequents.

He also has his 'day house' which is one of his old condo's that is in a different part of the backyard. (It's pictured) We had to raise the roof because he got tall, faster than I thought. He can barely turn around in it, but he like's it for day use.

Now then, onto the question-

What's up with his face? I've not seen these teeth before. They started out as sawtoothed and then turned into some kind of backwoods bubba teeth...

No problems with eating, which he loves to do. He's acting healthy as ever with his usual motivation and curiosity. He enjoys his hose baths, has a dish/pond and is pooping regularly. We feed him according to all the good things we have read on this site.

Has anyone seen this with the teeth/face before?

Thanks,

Masters slave~

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi and welcome to the Forum!!

That is a perfectly normal-looking sulcata face/beak!! How much does he weigh?

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome I love the way you asked about and described the teeth. Made me laugh. He's a nice looking fella.

 

[Lannen]

I'm guessing about 30 pounds. He's heavy and a brute. He moves the patio furniture around with ease. My wife won't allow a scale in the house

We started doing a cardboard outline of his baby years, and he would grow just about faster than we could draw.

I've just never seen his beak look like this before. I was wondering if it was some kind of baby teeth thing going on... just odd looking.

View attachment 47458

 

[tyrs4u]

Cute... Totally normal... Meant for cutting their grasses and such... Rarely need beak shaves unless overgrown... Otherwise the sullly is fine

 

[Lannen]

Okay, we will go with normal, even tho it looks strange and is changing.

I'll try this photo again-

Odd looking...

 

[Yvonne G]

Ok...now I see why you've been troubled. Yes, that beak does look a little strange. This is what a normal beak looks like:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-sulcata-tortoise-image286853

All those tooth-like projections should be pointing straight down. Is your tortoise allowed to graze on grasses and weeds? Grazing usually keeps the beak in shape. I would take a Dremmel and gently file down the part that's sticking out.

 

[EricIvins]

The beak is starting to become overgrown, but it is perfectly normal other than that....

 

[Lannen]

Yes, he has nice grazing ground, lots of florida grass and weeds. (we won't put chemicals on the lawn because he grazes)

Is there something harder that we need to supplement in his diet to help keep his beak trimmed?

 

[Laura]

I think he read too many vampire books and he is a wanna be....

 

[Yvonne G]

Give him a cuttlebone and see if he'll chomp on that. You can also give him something hard to bite every so often, like a carrot or a zucchini. But I think you're going to have to file those points that are sticking out before you will be able to use the bite-off-something-hard treatment.

 

[Lannen]

Master get's zucchini on a regular basis, and carrots, although he doesn't like the carrots as much.

I think his favorite snack is Ivory soap.

Yep, Ivory soap. We had a bar of soap in the back yard cleaning something. Turning our backs for just a second (just like a human child) he started to eat the soap. It was quite a fight to get him to let go of the bar of soap. The only thing I could do was hose out as much of the soap as I could. He wanted more soap- go figure.

We will try a cuttlebone and I'll get back to everyone.

 

[EricIvins]

Beef shanks or knuckles. Cuttlebone will hold up about as well as a limp noodle...

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Those projections on his beak are known as serrations, and other than being a bit overgrown, they're perfectly normal. In fact, rather like teeth, they help improve a tortoise's ability to bite through his food. However, they do need to be trimmed. You can give him fibrous plants, and let him gnaw on calcium blocks, cuttlefish bones, or vertebrate bones (kind of like a dog). If that doesn't work, you can file them down with an emery board, nail file, or dremel tool, or take him to a trusted vet who will do it for you. Then just keep feeding him fibrous plants and giving him things to gnaw on too keep those serrations from getting too long again.

 

[ascott]

What a handsome tort .....

 

[cally]

hi i am new , And looking at the other tort beak pics. I feel like mine doesnt seem to appear anything like that?? And its a russian... Any advice? Beautiful tort above btw


Cally- Russian Tort <3

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

hi i am new , And looking at the other tort beak pics. I feel like mine doesnt seem to appear anything like that?? And its a russian... Any advice? Beautiful tort above btw


Cally- Russian Tort <3

Each type of tortoise has a different pattern of serrations on its beak. Russian tortoises naturally have three cusps in the front of the upper beak (one at the tip and one on either side). They have small serrations on the side of the beak, but these are not as developed as in the sulcata. This is because they feed on different types of plants. Russians feed on forbs (leafy greens) while sulcatas are grazers, feeding on a lot of grass.

 

[cally]

Thank you so much!! That was really helpful, now im trying to figure out how old my russian may be??


Cally- Russian Tort <3

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Thank you so much!! That was really helpful, now im trying to figure out how old my russian may be??


Cally- Russian Tort <3

Aging a tortoise is very difficult, and only provides an estimate. You should start a new thread about that separate topic, rather than changing the subject in this thread, which is about tortoise beak serrations, not age. That's called "hijacking" a thread, and is discouraged here on TFO.

 

[cally]

I had no idea sorry


Cally- Russian Tort <3